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A hotel proposal at 445 Adelaide Street West across from St Andrew's Playground in Toronto's Fashion District has been resubmitted to the City by Lamb Development Corp. Designed by architects—Alliance, the revised submission increases the height from 14 to 17 storeys. The site sits within the King-Spadina Heritage Conservation District, steps from the future Queen-Spadina and King-Bathurst Ontario Line 3 stations.
The site spans 445 through 451 Adelaide Street West at the southwest corner with Morrison Street. It is occupied by low-rise brick buildings; three 2-storey rowhouses from 1904, and a 2½-storey detached house dating to 1880, currently used for commercial, office, and residential purposes, including two rental units.
Plans to redevelop the site date back to 2005, when a minor variance was approved for a 10-storey mixed-use building. A formal rezoning application followed in 2017, proposing an 11-storey office building by Niche Development. That evolved in 2019 into a 14-storey hotel with 146 suites and a rooftop restaurant by Lamb, and was ultimately approved in principle by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) in 2020. However, just weeks before the hearing, the City designated the existing buildings on the site under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.
When the Tribunal ruled in favour of the development, finding the heritage value insufficient under provincial policy, the City appealed to Ontario's Divisional Court. The court overturned the LPAT decision on procedural grounds, ruling that the Tribunal had overstepped by questioning the City's heritage designations, in the absence of a direct appeal. The Divisional Court ruling halted the project, and it remained dormant through the pandemic.
Now, the revised proposal calls for a 17-storey hotel rising 59.65m, up from the 14-storey, 45.7m version. While the unit count has dropped from 146 to 144 suites, the total Gross Floor Area has increased from 6,597m² to 8,342m², pushing the Floor Space Index from 11.96 to 15.12 times coverage of the 552m² site. A Heritage Impact Assessment prepared by ERA Architects maintains the firm’s longstanding position that the existing buildings on the site do not meet the threshold for cultural heritage value under provincial criteria.
At grade, the lobby entrance would open onto Adelaide at Morrison, accompanied by a 156m² restaurant. Three below-grade levels would house a second restaurant, meeting rooms, a gym, library, lounge, storage for eight bikes, and service areas. In contrast to the previous version’s four underground levels and 11-car parking garage, the new plan eliminates all vehicular parking. Two guest elevators and one service elevator are proposed.
An earlier version of the project was claimed to be the future home of Toronto’s first Hudson Hotel, part of a lifestyle brand under sbe Hotels and Accor. The latest proposal contains no mention of any operating partner, and Niche Development, listed as a co-applicant in previous filings, is also absent from the current materials.
The site is located within a 3- to 7-minute walk of several TTC streetcar routes. Osgoode station is about one kilometre away, while separated bike lanes along Adelaide, Richmond, and Brant Streets offer cycling connections. The site is within walking distance of both the King-Bathurst and Queen-Spadina stations of Ontario Line 3 that is now under construction. Each future station is less than 500m from the site, with the site falling within the Protected Major Transit Station Areas of both. A third nearby rapid transit connection, the planned Front-Spadina GO RER station, would be approximately 725m away.
There has been much recent development in the area, along with plenty of other proposals at various planning stages. To the south, multiple mid-rise projects are planned, including 540 King West at 15 storeys, while the 16-storey KING Toronto continues construction. Northwest, The Addison Residences is proposed at 16 storeys, and to the northeast, applications include 8 Camden at 17 storeys, Camden House at 18, and a trio of 19-storey proposals (MANGA on Richmond & Camden, plus 450 and 457 Richmond). The Queen-Spadina station Transit Oriented Community calls for 15 and 17 storeys. To the east, 96 Spadina is planned at 16 storeys, 460 King West at 23, and 147 Spadina at 24. Larger proposals are found east of Spadina, including 101 Spadina at 50 storeys and Spadina Adelaide Square at 58 storeys.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Related Companies: | architects—Alliance, Bousfields, Counterpoint Engineering, ERA Architects, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, JORG - Renderings & Interactive, LEA Consulting |
